BonusGeek Asks – How Do You Play Pocket Aces

BonusGeek wants to know, “How do you play Pocket Aces in online Texas Hold ‘Em?” This may seem like a simple question to answer for some online poker players, but even veteran players sometimes express feelings of angst and anxiety when they bend their hold cards and find out they have American Airlines flying in their hand. And a recent tour of online poker chat rooms showed that the average player is just as confused and upset before and after playing Pocket Aces as is the professional. Obviously, Pocket Rockets is the best possible hand you can have pre-flop in Texas Hold ‘Em. So how do you play them?

I personally have friends who play them super aggressively every single time, as they are sick and tired of getting sucked out on The River, or limping only to allow someone to get trips or two pair on The Flop. But when you play Pocket Aces aggressively, you run the risk of not getting called by a single player, thereby reducing the value you receive with the best possible Pre-Flop hand to almost nothing. Do you alternate how you play Pocket Aces? Or do you handle Bullets the same way every time?

Playing Bullets Pre–Flop in online poker can be vastly different than how you approach this iconic hand in a face-to-face sitdown game. As you probably know, the online poker community seems to be a more aggressive bunch, and the same human beings who play timidly and run from any bet in a brick-and-mortar poker game seem absolutely unperturbed in the virtual world, and will call with just about any two cards. This behavior would then dictate that you play Pocket Aces aggressively, both before and after The Flop, whether you hit The Flop or not.

But then you receive the whole “no value” reward for your actions if no one calls you before The Flop, which means you are risking a large bet to simply scoop the blinds, putting yourself in a high risk, low reward situation. What is the answer? An argument can be made for aggressive play, and an equally intelligent discussion can be used to extol the benefits of slow playing the two facedown cards you only receive 1 out of every 220 hands.

And if you are heads up against a single player, you already know that your Pocket Rockets give you a roughly 80% advantage over someone with Cowboys, and a progressively better chance to win if your opponent holds a smaller pair. But on the flop you are less than a 12% chance to hit an Ace, and that is really the only card that can help you. In a “real world environment” you can pick up tells, physical signals and other giveaways from your opponent, and may even know your particular opponent’s betting tendencies. But online that is virtually impossible, so how do you fly American Airlines in online Texas Hold ‘Em to ensure the best value and the least risky landing? One thing you can be insured of every time you play online is receiving the best possible bonuses from the top casinos and poker rooms when you follow one of the links provided Bonusgeek.com. That adds the biggest pad to your bankroll, and makes playing Pocket Aces a little less taxing, both mentally and financially.